Study on mechanical, thermal and electrical characterizations of nano-SiC/epoxy composites

Abstract

This report covers the results of a study on evaluating the effect of nano-SiC particles on mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of epoxy by lap shear, TGA, DSC and electrical tests. Epoxy composites filled with micro-SiC particles were also studied for comparison. The mechanisms of performance improvement were discussed in detail. The results showed that with identical loading, silane treated nano-SiC filled nanocomposites have the best properties, The volume resistivity decrease, dielectric constant e increase and loss tangent tan(δ) increase by addition of silane treated nano-SiC particles are smaller than those by the other fillers. Silane treatment of nanoparticles improves each performance, including increases shear strength, thermal stability, volume resistivity and decreases e and (δ). The addition of nano-SiC particles remarkably improves shear strength, ε and tan(δ), while slightly enhances thermal stability of epoxy, 8 vol.% silane treated nano-SiC/eppxy composite has the highest shear strength 10.6MPa with the maximum enhancement, 80%, over the neat resin. It also has good temperature independence of dielectric properties and enough volume resistivity, which meet the demand of some microelectronics materials. © 2009 The Society of Polymer Science.